When I was in culinary school in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, my favorite soup that we prepared featured langoustines, carrots, oranges and cumin. Since then, I have been drawn to the combination of the two vibrant ingredients – carrot and orange.

In the early days of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, I experimented with carrot in our Gianduja, (hazelnut praline) bar. The recipe never quite came together. This year, I revisited the orange carrot duo. I've always wanted to add a crackly crunch to one of our chocolate bars and felt it would be fun for the carrots to add a crispy note. I decided to confit the carrots in orange juice and then crisp them in the oven.

To add an additional punch of citrus, I also include house made Valencia orange powder. Our dehydrator doesn't have the capacity we need so I enlisted the help of our Chocolate Lab in Beverly Hills. Together in our kitchen and theirs, we are producing three pounds of house made Valencia orange powder each week.

Just a touch of this exquisite powder adds the flavor needed to elevate this new chocolate bar and finally, I am satisfied with my carrot orange creation. The labor-intensive process is worth it with every pinch. No matter how big Vosges Haut-Chocolat grows, I vow to remain true to the artisan process!

-Katrina

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Customer Reviews

Another home run for Vosges! What a great combination, carrots + chocolate. The carrots give it a great texture and just a little bit of crisp. Yuummm.

- Nina

Like eating a high end Nestle Crunch bar

Hmm, wanted to enjoy this chocolate bar. Some friends and I had a tasting. Two out of three of us were underwhelmed. The milk chocolate is fine, but we both prefer dark. The carrot is crunchy but doesn't really taste of carrots until the third bite. The orange is mostly lost. More carrot or orange could make this pretty special. As it is, it's just like a high-end Nestle Crunch. The third of us really liked it - thought the texture was great and got enough subtle carrot that he was really pretty happy. That's why I didn't give it just 2 stars. I'd rather have the Smoke & Stout - oh, what a flavor!